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House GOP’s Deal To Avoid Government Shutdown Includes Ban On DC From Funding Abortion Services

In what is becoming standardpractice, House Republicans are forcing a ban on funding for abortion services in the District of Columbia to avoid a government shutdown. D.C. is unique in that, not only does it not have a voting representative, but its budget is controlled by Congress. The anti-abortion policy rider attached to the GOP’s omnibus spending bill thus prohibits D.C. from providing any funding — even it’s own local taxes — to pay for abortions. The rider puts the ban in place through fiscal 2012 and is the GOP’s third effort to re-enact the 13-year-long ban on abortion-fudning in D.C. that President Obama overturned in 2009.